BlackBerry Smartphone Keyboard Shortcuts

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For those of you who use a BlackBerry® smartphone with a physical QWERTY keyboard, here are some tips to help make you more efficient while using your smartphone. The tips will show you how some keys have a dual personality and how others can be customized to get what you need fast.

Lock the keypad to enter numbers
Need to type a lot of numbers? Lock the Alt button when you need to type a sequence of numbers, such as a phone number while composing an email. To do so, follow the steps below:

  • While typing, press the Alt and Left Shift key together
  • To turn off number lock, press the Alt key or one of the Shift keys


Lock the Keypad to enter capital letters
Need to write an acronym or get your point across on BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™)? Follow these steps:

  • Press the Alt key and the Right Shift Key together
  • To unlock, press the Alt key or one of the Shift keys


Set the Convenience Key(s) to open an often-used app or feature
Depending on your model of BlackBerry smartphone, it will have one or two convenience keys. (For devices with two convenience keys, they will be identified as “Left” and “Right”.) A convenience key can be customized to perform a task or open an app. To change the functionality of a convenience key, do the following:

BlackBerry® 6 & BlackBerry® 7 OS
  • From the Home screen or a folder, select “Options”
  • Select “Device” and then “Convenience Key”
  • Next to “Convenience Key Opens”, select an option to assign it to that key
  • Press the Menu key and select “Save”
Tip: Find it fast – type “Convenience” or “Key” from the Home screen to find the convenience key options using Universal Search.

BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 and below
  • From the Home screen or a folder, select “Options”
  • Select “Screen/Keyboard”
  • Select the desired function or app next to “Convenience Key Opens”
  • Press the Menu key and select “Save”


App switch using the Menu key
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You can quickly switch from one application to another without having to back out to the Home screen or a folder to click on the icon. Pressing and holding the Menu key will display all the apps running on the device. Simply follow these steps:

  • Press and hold the Menu key from the Home screen, folder or an application
  • When the app switch screen appears, highlight and select the desired app

Media keys, dual functionality
When using your BlackBerry smartphone as a music player, the up and down volume buttons also become a quick way to skip to or go back a track. For devices that also have a mute button, it can also pause the song you are listening to.

  • To skip ahead one track: Press and hold the Up Volume button
  • To go back one track: Press and hold the Down Volume button
  • To pause the current track: Press and hold the Mute button

Have a BlackBerry 7 OS device? The Mute and Volume keys can be disabled from controlling play, pause and skip. Follow these steps:
  • From the Home screen or a folder, select “Music”
  • Press the Menu key and select “Options”
  • Next to Allow “Mute and Volume keys to control play, pause, and skip” select or clear the checkbox


Use shortcuts in Messages to view folders quickly.
  • View received messages Press ALT & I
  • View sent messages Press ALT & O
  • View voicemail messages Press ALT & V
  • View SMS text messages Press ALT & S
  • View call logs Press ALT & P
  • View all your messages again Press the Escape key


Switching views within the Calendar
For those of you that like to switch between calendar views such as day, agenda, week or month, try using this keyboard shortcut to change views instead of the using the Menu and Trackpad.

A note before we start – in order for shortcuts to work in day view, you’ll need to disable the Quick Entry feature using the following steps. The screenshot below shows this feature:
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  • In the calendar application, press the Menu key select Options.
  • Select Calendar Display and Actions.
  • Clear the Enable Quick box.

After doing this, you can start using the following keys to change views in your calendar:

Agenda View: Press A
Day View: Press D
Week View: Press W
Month View: Press M

If you prefer having the Quick Entry feature instead of using these shortcuts, complete the steps provided earlier again but check the ‘Enable Quick Entry box.


Set your Voicemail Password
This is a simple tip that makes it so you don’t have to enter your voicemail password whenever you use the voice mail speed dial. Before completing the steps below, I would recommend making sure you’ve set a password to unlock your BlackBerry smartphone to prevent someone from being able to access your voicemail. For information on how to do this, review the user guide for your BlackBerry smartphone.

  • From the Home screen, press the Phone button.
  • Press the Menu key, then select Options followed by Voice Mail.
  • Enter your voicemail password, press the Menu key and select Save.

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BONUS TIP: Press and hold a letter key to get a capital letter
There is another way to type an upper case letter when needed:
  • Press and hold a letter key
The lower case letter will appear on screen, and shortly afterward it will change into an upper case letter.

Source: Blackberry
 
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